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The main intent of the essay is to shed light on one of the most discussed topics in the cultural debate within Italian Catholicism in the Thirties, i. e. the connection between the Austrian Standestaat - built by Chancellor Dollfuss and the Christian Social Party - and Catholic Social Teaching, particularly the Pius XI's encyclical Quadragesimo anno. Based on the confrontation between the most relevant catholic voices of that time, the study shows how Italian Catholicism generally took a clear stance in favour of the Austrian 'Christian and Corporatist' State, although some - such as the founder of the Partito Popolare Italiano Luigi Sturzo - focused on the risk of identifying the Church with a political authoritarian project. In order to piece together the catholic debate about the Standestaat during his whole existence (1933- 1938) a particular attention has been paid to the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, the Federazione Universitaria Cattolica Italiana (Fuel) and the lay organizations of the Catholic Action [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]